This is an update to the first blog post, which gave an overview of the Trump Trade War.

President Trump’s tweets on April 8th and 10th and most importantly President Xi’s April 10th speech did a lot to calm the nerves of investors in the US and China that no trade war was imminent. President Xi in his April 10, 2018 speech at the BOAN Conference in Hainan pledged to open China further to imports and to investment and to protect the intellectual property rights (“IPR”) of foreign companies.

Now in response to the Section 301 case, we can expect a round of intense negotiations between the US and China until November 18, 2018 to see if President Xi’s promises can be put into writing and the threats of a trade war averted. Although President Xi pledged to move the reform process expeditiously, the Section 301 case has external deadlines. After the May 15th hearing and final comments on May 22nd, there are still 180 days, 6 months, or until November 18, 2018 before the US takes action under Section 301.

Section 301 are usually settled with trade agreements so the question is what will China agree to and what will be in the Agreement.

Most importantly, the hope is that this Section 301 action can also help solve the Steel and Aluminum crisis in the Section 232 case as part of these negotiations so that China will lift its $3 billion in retaliation on US imports, which has already been put in place. That is a hope of many US farmers.

My next update will describe the exclusion process in detail in the Section 232 Steel and Aluminum cases, the Section 201 Solar case and the procedures going forward in the Section 301 IP China case.

If anyone has any questions or wants additional information, please feel free to contact me at my e-mail address bill@harrisbricken.com.

Best regards,

Bill Perry

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PRESIDENT XI’S SPEECH AND PRESIDENT TRUMP’S TWEETS HELP CALM THE TRADE WATERS AND HOPEFULLY AVERT A TRADE WAR

As the potential for a US China full blown trade war appeared to escalate last week with increasing rhetoric from both sides, cooler heads appeared to prevail as both sides stepped back from the brink.

On April 8, 2018, over the weekend and before the President Xi April 10th speech, President Trump appeared to step back and tone down his rhetoric with regards to China. Trump specifically tweeted:

“4/8/18, 5:12 AM

President Xi and I will always be friends, no matter what happens with our dispute on trade. China will take down its Trade Barriers because it is the right thing to do. Taxes will become Reciprocal & a deal will be made on Intellectual Property. Great future for both countries!”

Very smartly, President Trump decided not to attack China or the Chinese people and that did a lot to calm the waters and provoke a positive reaction from China. As President Xi stated in his April 10th speech, “With the future in mind, we need to treat each other with respect and as equals.”

After President Xi’s speech, President Trump tweeted on April 10th:

“4/10/18, 10:51 AM

Very thankful for President Xi of China’s kind words on tariffs and automobile barriers…also, his enlightenment on intellectual property and technology transfers. We will make great progress together!”

In effect, all the US anti-trade rhetoric had created a crisis atmosphere and the question is how China would react. President Xi’s speech helped the US walk back the rhetoric in preparation for negotiations. Although Trump maybe a good negotiator, the other side still has to come to the table.

Thus, Chinese President Xi Jinping’s speech on April 10th speech at the Boao forum in Hainan, China was extremely important to clear the rhetoric away in preparation for negotiations. The Boao forum is an annual forum of Asian government and business leaders in Hainan. In that speech, although not referring to Trump trade action by name, President Xi responded by pledging to open China more to foreign investment and imports and to substantially increase protection for intellectual property held by foreign companies.

President Xi’ made clear in the speech his support for global development cooperation and peace. He stated that only peaceful development and cooperation can bring a win-win situation. He also stated that China has no choice but to pursue development and connectivity, and that reform and innovation are keys to human development. President Xi emphasized that countries have to treat each other with respect and as equals.

President Xi described China as a socialist country with Chinese characteristics, not a Communist country. President Xi stated that China will not threaten anyone else or the international system. It is determined to build World Peace and global prosperity.

President Xi also stated that China is committed to its strategy of opening up China, and China will stay open and will open up even further. President Xi stated that greater openness will move economic globalization further so as to benefit people.

President Xi also pledged to take concrete action and measures to significantly broaden market access in the financial area, insurance, and other areas. Xi specifically mentioned easing equity restrictions in the automobiles area.

President Xi pledged stronger IP protection and to protect IPR of foreign companies and to expand imports. He also stated that China does not seek a trade surplus but a balance of payments and that China will significantly lower imports tariffs for autos and other products. Xi specifically stated:

“With regard to all those major initiatives I have just announced, we have every intention to translate them into reality sooner rather than later. We want the outcomes of our opening up efforts to deliver benefits as soon as possible to all enterprises and people in China and around the world.”

President Xi also stated:

“Openness versus isolation and progress versus retrogression, humanity has a major choice to make. In a world aspiring for peace and development, the Cold War mentality and zero‐sum mentality look even more out of place.”

Xi called for “a new approach to state‐to‐state relations, featuring dialogue rather than confrontation and partnership instead of alliance.”

Xi further stated that China will create “a more attractive investment environment. Investment is like air and only fresh air attracts more investment from the outside.”

With regards to intellectual property, President Xi stated:

“Stronger IPR protection is the requirement of foreign enterprises, and even more so of Chinese enterprises. We encourage normal technological exchanges and cooperation between Chinese and foreign enterprises, and protect the lawful IPR owned by foreign enterprises in China.”

The real question now will be implementation, and China will no longer have the luxury of taking as much time as it wants to make these reforms because the Section 301 clock is ticking. After the May 22nd final comments at USTR, pursuant to the Section 301 statute, the Trump Administration has another 180 days or six months or until November 18, 2018 before it takes action and imposes tariffs on the $50 billion in imports.

Most Section 301 cases end up with a negotiated settlement so we should expect the same end game in this case with intense negotiations by both sides.

This is the first of two blog posts. The first blog post gives an overview of the Trump Trade War/Crisis with the World and specifically with China. The second blog post will get into the details and the complexities of the Section 232 Steel and Aluminum cases, the Section 301 China Intellectual Property (“IP”) case and the Section 201 Solar Cells case. But this trade war is getting bigger and bigger.

Having just returned from a month in Europe on March 26th, I wanted to put together another blog post, but every day there has been another significant trade development. While in Europe, I was thinking that my next blog post would be entitled “Trump’s World Trade War”. Had the Trump Administration taken a World Trade War too lightly?

But after I returned from Europe, the narrative changed as country after country negotiated country exemptions out of the Section 232 Steel and Aluminum Tariffs.

But then on April 1st the Chinese government issued a $3 billion retaliation list aimed at US imports in response to the Section 232 tariffs, much of it agricultural products. On April 3rd. the Trump Administration announced $50 billion in potential tariffs on Chinese imports in the Section 301 case. See attached Presidential Proclamation and 301 Fed Reg Notice with US retaliation list, FED REG NOTICE 301 PLUS PROPOSED US RETALIATION LISTFED REG PRESIDENTIAL DETERMINATION 301 CHINA The Chinese government immediately reacted with its own attached list of $50 billion in tariffs on US imports into China. China-301-Retaliation-List-Chinese-and-English. Both lists will be described in more detail in my second blog post. Both lists cover many, many different products from agricultural products to machinery, automobiles and airplanes.

On April 5th, in response to China’s $50 billion in retaliation, President Trump proposed and USTR Lighthizer agreed on another $100 billion in tariffs on Chinese imports. $150 billion in tariffs on Chinese imports completely offsets the $130 billion in US exports to China. The US and China are now involved in a game of trade war chicken. Who will blink first?

So the new title of the newsletter below is “Trump’s World Trade War?? Maybe Not. Now Definitely Yes” But as Shakespeare stated in Hamlet, maybe there is a method to Trump’s madness. Trump appeared to be ready to start a World Trade War at the beginning of March, but at the end of March, Trump appeared much more interested in using the threat of high tariffs to get a better trade deal to open up foreign markets. Tariffs give Trump leverage in trade deals.

But then the trade war started to escalate with China as both sides created retaliation lists. The only shining light in this trade conflict is that the $150 billion tariffs will not take place right away. There will be a hearing in May to determine which imports to target and then the actual decision implementing the US tariffs will be months away.

The Chinese government will also not implement the $50 billion in threatened tariffs until it sees what the Trump Administration does. Meanwhile there will be intense negotiations between the US and Chinese governments.

Two readers have criticized me for not focusing enough in past blog posts on the trade deficits with China and high tariffs China puts on US exports. US exports in 2017 were $2.4 trillion, $1.6 trillion in goods and the impact of a trade war on US companies and jobs is becoming very clear. With regards to China, the United States exported $130.369 billion to China in 2017, imported $505.597 billion in 2017 leaving a trade deficit of $375.227 billion. Concentrating only on trade deficits, however, ignores the very large amounts exported by the United States to the World and China.

But the real question is strategy. Trump’s strategy apparently is to use the threat of high tariffs on imports from China and other countries to extract better trade deals which lower duties on and barriers to US exports. As indicated below, USTR Lighthizer’s strategy, in part, is based on the belief that China has not kept its promises. The Chinese government negotiates, but does not live up to its deal so only a true threat of big trade retaliation will force China to change its practices when it comes to intellectual property and mercantilism. if the strategy works, more power to President Trump.

But, sovereign countries may not react the same way as private businesses. Sovereign countries are very aware of face and whether the US Government respects the other country. If President Trump pushes too hard, he risks so angering the other country, that no trade deal can be negotiated. See the movie the Gathering Storm when Winston Churchill asked his British constituents on a subway train whether his government should negotiate a peace treaty with Hitler. The answer was never!!

More importantly, because of the real negative economic impact Trump’s trade policy has already had on farm states, which is a core constituency and part of Donald Trump s base, Trump should know that he truly has bet the House/his Presidency on his trade deals. If his trade strategy does not work, the economic damage his policy will do on his constituency will badly damage Republicans in the mid-terms and he probably will be a one term President. Going into the midterms, Republican Senator Grassley from Iowa, which has been hit hard by Trump’s trade policy, has stated that Trump will own any harm caused by his trade strategy and any retaliation caused by it. Senator Grassley should know because Iowa is changing from a state that was firmly in the Republican camp and pro-Trump to a now battleground state.

The objective of this blog has been to warn about the perils of protectionism. I do not want to exaggerate the situation. If Trump’s strategy works and he gets better trade deals, he will be in a very good situation. But if the trade deals go south, especially with China, Trump’s core constituents will be badly hurt in a trade war by retaliation and there will be election hell to pay. Trade is becoming Trump’s Obamacare lightening rod.

If anyone has any questions or wants additional information, please feel free to contact me at my e-mail address bill@harrisbricken.com.

Best regards,

Bill Perry

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TRUMP’S WORLD TRADE WAR?? MAYBE NOT. NOW DEFINITELY YES.

On February 27th, USTR Robert Lighthizer on the Laura Ingraham show on Fox News stated that it was ridiculous to think that the United States was going to get into a trade war with China. On April 6th, in light of Trump’s decision to impose another $100 billion in tariffs on China’s imports in response to China’s threatened $50 billion on US exports, Lighthizer’s statement is simply ridiculous. The United States has a full-blown trade war with China. Lighthizer’s original statement, however, indicates that he may have underestimated the response of other countries to his trade demands.

At the start of March, it certainly appeared that the Trump Administration had started a trade war not only with China, but with the entire world. In effect, the United States apparently had created a World Trade War. With tough trade NAFTA negotiations with Mexico and Canada, Europe issuing its own retaliation list in response to the Section 232 Aluminum and Steel Tariffs along with very tough tariffs for China and long retaliation lists aimed at US exports, it certainly looked like a World Trade War.

As I visited many cities in Germany, including Berlin, my fear was that the Trump Administration, like Germany, was taking a trade “war” too lightly. On March 2, 2017, President Trump tweeted:

“When a country (USA) is losing many billions of dollars on trade with virtually every country it does business with, trade wars are good, and easy to win. Example, when we are down $100 billion with a certain country and they get cute, don’t trade anymore-we win big. It’s easy!”

President Trump apparently was referring to a $100 billion bilateral trade deﬁcit with a certain country, but it was not clear which one. In 2017, the U.S. ran a global goods deﬁcit of $810 billion. The largest bilateral trade deﬁcit was $375 billion with China. But in 2017 total US exports were $2.4 trillion with $1.6 trillion being goods. Agricultural products amounted to only $137 billion, the rest were manufactured goods.

This tweet followed the announcement to impose broad tariffs of 25% on steel imports, and 10% on aluminum imports pursuant to the Section 232 cases. On March 16th, the EC issued its own attached retaliation list, TWO EU RETALIATION LISTS.

In response, on March 2, 2018, the Wall Street Journal (“WSJ”) in an article entitled, “Trade Wars Are Good, Trump Tweets,” immediately criticized Trump’s trade action along with many economists and others, stating:

That is what most economists would call a classic “trade war,” which Investopedia deﬁnes as “a negative side eﬀect of protectionism that occurs when Country A raises tariﬀs on Country B’s imports in retaliation for Country B raising tariﬀs on Country A’s imports.”

Most economists and policy makers consider trade wars unpredictable, destabilizing and damaging, the most notorious example being the cycle of tit-for-tat retaliation intensiﬁed by the 1930 American Smoot-Hawley law that aggravated the Great Depression.

At a March 21st hearing in the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee, USTR Lighthizer gave a measured step by step argument on the Section 232 Tariffs and the Section 301 China IP Case against China to explain Trump’s trade strategy. To see the two hour plus hearing before Ways and Means, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxqNWw5PObk.

On March 22nd, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross appeared before the House Ways and Means Committee to defend the Section 232 Steel and Aluminum tariffs. Many Representatives expressed substantial concern about the retaliation against different US exports products, such as agricultural products, and the impact on downstream steel users. To see this long hearing with Wilbur Ross, click on the following link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vylt-NTsT8I.

Upon my return from Europe, on March 26th, the situation appeared to change with a number of countries, including Canada, Mexico, South Korea, the EC, Argentina and Brazil, negotiating final or temporary trade agreements with the US in the Section 232 cases to get country wide exemptions. See attached Section 232 Fed Reg notice outling exemptions for countries and for products, which can be filed by US end user companies. EXCLUSION FED REG STEEL AND ALUMINUM. The exemptions for Canada and Mexico are only good depending upon the results of the NAFTA negotiations. The EC, Brazil and Argentina exemptions are only good until early May when hopefully final agreements will be negotiated. This was apparently part of USTR Lighthizer’s strategy before tackling China. See below.

With regards to South Korea, in the final agreement, in exchange for a country wide exemption from the Section 232 Steel and Aluminum tariffs, it agreed to limit its steel exports to 70% of the average steel exports over the last three years and also open up its own market slightly to more auto imports from the US. Since South Korea is the third largest steel exporter to the US, that reduction does mean that there will be less steel in the US market.

But then the trade war started to escalate again, especially with China. On April 1st, China announced it was levying tariffs on 128 different US imports into China totaling $3 billion in response to the Section 232 tariffs on Steel and Aluminum. China also took its case to the WTO and stated that since there are no negotiations, it can levy those tariffs now. See the attached $3 billion Chinese retaliation list, SECTION 232 CHINA LIST RETALIATION TARGETS, which has already been imposed on US imports into China.

On April 5th, in response to the Chinese $50 billlion retaliation list, President Trump asked the USTR to add another $100 billion on the $50 billion already proposed against China. The April 5th exchange between the President and USTR Lighthizer are attached. TRUMP STATEMENT 100 BILLION LIGHTHIZER RESPONSE. On April 6th, China said it would respond, but $150 billion is more than total US exports to China of $130 billion.

US proposes, China retaliates, the US raises the anti. China responds. This is a true trade war and exactly what the Wall Street Journal and others have predicted.

The only good point is that neither list has been implemented yet and as described below in more detail, the actual implementation of the tariffs is probably months away.

TRUMP HAS BET THE HOUSE/HIS PRESIDENCY ON BETTER TRADE DEALS

In his book, the Art of the Deal, Donald Trump states at page 222:

“USE YOUR LEVERAGE

The worst thing you can possibly do in a deal is seem desperate to make it. That makes the other guy smell blood, and then you’re dead. The best thing you can do is deal from strength, and leverage is the biggest strength you can have. Leverage is having something the other guy wants. Or better yet, needs. Or best of all, simply can’t do without.”

Trump has made it clear that he wants tariffs. Through the Section 232 process and the Section 301 IP Case against China, Trump got his tariffs and his leverage. Now the question is what is Trump’s trade strategy.

On March 10th, in a Pennsylvania speech after the announcement of the Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum, President Trump stated with regards to trade:

European Union. . . They kill us on trade… They have trade barriers. We can’t even sell our farming goods. . . . Then they say we want those tariffs [aluminum and steel] taken off. We are going to tax Mercedes Benz, BMW. . . .You want money to come into our country. . . . We are like $100 billion down with the European Union. We had stupid politicians doing stupid things. Think of $100 billion. I’ve already had $71 billion Mexico, $130 billion. That is a real number. The deal was bad the day they made it. Mexico charges a 16% tax nobody talks about. I talk about it. We are either going to renegotiate NAFTA – and I say we won’t put the tariffs on Mexico and Canada. Canada is brutal. We have a deficit with Canada. They send in timber, steel a lot of things. Our farmers in Wisconsin are not treated well when we want to send things to them.

I don’t blame them. Why should I blame them? They outsmarted our politicians for decades. I don’t mean Obama. I mean all of them since Bush the first. That includes a lot of territory. Ronald Regan. . . Not great on trade.

We used to be a nation of tariffs. Countries had to pay for the privilege of taking our product, our jobs. They had to pay. They want to sell their products. They had to pay. Today in China. They sell a car to the US they pay 2.5%. We sell a car in China, which is almost impossible to do, it is probably . … 25%. That is why we have a trade deficit with China. It is not good. We are changing it. It takes a while. . .

We have a trade deficit with countries of the world…of almost $800 billion. Who makes these deals? . . . It is more than Obama. Plenty of Presidents allow that to happen. We are going to get a lot of things straightened out. NAFTA is under work right now.

Now they are going to be very good. . .If you make a decent deal for the American people, we will have no problem with tariffs. I said .. something to the European Union. Look you are killing us. We are losing $100 billion a year…You are not accepting our product. I want to help the farmers . . .

You hear the European Union. It sounds innocent. It is not innocent. They are very tough and smart. They sell stuff into us and we … charge them practically nothing. We sell things into them, you can’t get through the barriers. They have artificial barriers. It is not monetary, environmental. They come up with things you would not believe. We can’t get our product in there. I said open up your barriers. Get rid of your tariffs and we will do this. . . We have a lot of work to do.

That is the Trump strategy. Raise tariffs and if necessary raise tariffs again and then use those tariffs as leverage to get a better trade deal. But what if the other country does not cooperate and puts out its own retaliation list? That is the risk of Trump’s trade policy; the economic situation in Trump country, especially in the agriculture states, turns down.

Meanwhile, on April 5th the Commerce Department reported that in February 2018, the US trade deficit rose to $57.6 billion, 9½%, to its highest level in almost 10 years, although the trade deficit with China narrowed sharply falling 18.6% to $29.3 billion. In February US exports of goods increased 2.3% to $137.2 billion, but goods imports jumped 1.6% to $214.2 billion.

But in the agriculture states, a hard rain is going to fall and is falling. Just from the initial attached $3 billion-dollar list, which has gone into effect, agriculture has been the top target. SECTION 232 CHINA LIST RETALIATION TARGETS. Agriculture experts expect that the soybeans, sorghum, beef, pork, wheat, corn and cotton are all on the target lists for both cases. For most of these farm products, US farmers export billions to China.

On April 5, 2018, in an article entitled “What a Trade Fight Would Mean For Trump Country”, the Washington Examiner looked at the downside of the Trump trade war and attacks on other countries. Farmers are getting smashed and they are a core Trump constituency. As the Washington Examiner states:

President Trump’s hardball tactics to extract trade concessions from China could crush communities that fuel his political support, with Republicans in Congress paying the price in November.

A Brookings Institution analysis revealed that a U.S.-China trade war would impact agriculture and manufacturing and could disproportionately cost working class jobs in counties Trump carried in the 2016 election. Of the 2,783 counties affected, the president won 2,279; compared to just 449 that went for Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Nearly 1.1 million jobs in Trump country are tied to trade with China, according to the Brookings study. Voters there, supportive of the president’s agenda and long eager for the U.S. to combat Beijing’s unfair trade practices, might give the administration latitude to negotiate better terms.

But if the confrontation escalates and the economy suffers, congressional Republicans could shoulder the blame. Already facing a challenging re-election environment, they count a growing economy among their few advantages. They have minimal time to weather any storm and, unlike Trump, can’t rely on the loyalty of the GOP base.

“This could have a huge, negative impact in the midterms — and beyond — if the trade tit for tat continues,” Dave Carney, a veteran Republican strategist based in New Hampshire, said. Although, he added: “If the president gets concessions and jobs continue to grow and most importantly voters give him credit for that victory, then things will improve for his party.”

The Brookings Institution, a centrist think tank in Washington, examined industries and jobs that would be affected by a trade war with China based on the threats being lobbed back and forth since Trump began moving in March to crack down on Beijing. . . .

Nothing concrete has actually happened, yet. Wall Street, and top executives at corporations who stand to lose business, are operating under the assumption that a deal will be reached before the saber-rattling evolves into an extended showdown. . . .

The agriculture industry, the economic backbone of many rural communities in the heartland, is less sanguine and isn’t waiting for negotiations between Washington and Beijing to falter to sound the alarm. In a press release, the American Soybean Association said “Chinese Retaliation is No Longer a ‘What If’ for Soybean Farmers.”

Soybean farmers export 60 percent of their crop, about $14 billion worth annually, to China. ASA Vice President Davie Stephens, a soybean farmer in Clinton, Ky., said he awoke Wednesday morning to a 30-40 cent per bushel drop in the price of soybeans, which appeared related to the increased specter of a trade war.

“Farmers are worried,” Stephens said in a telephone conversation. “My local community would feel the impact.”

Trump at times has been bellicose in his rhetoric, vowing that he would do whatever is necessary to force China to treat U.S. imports fairly. “When you’re already $500 Billion DOWN, you can’t lose,” he tweeted. But the administration in general sought to calm nerves, with top officials insisting that Trump is intent on avoiding a major spat with Beijing.

“You know, there are carrots and sticks in life, but he is ultimately a free trader. He’s said that to me, he’s said it publicly. So he wants to solve this with the least amount of pain,” Larry Kudlow, the president’s chief economic adviser and an ardent free trader, told reporters.

Republicans worried about the midterm elections don’t sound reassured. Hoping to run on a $1.3 trillion tax overhaul that accelerated economic growth in the first quarter of the year and delivered massive tax cuts, Republicans have seen their economic message usurped by Trump’s proposed tariffs.

Worse, Republicans fear that an unintended trade war might erase the economic gains they’re depending on to buttress the party against political headwinds that threaten to wipe out their majorities in the House and Senate. As Brookings discovered, more than 2.1 million jobs could be adversely affected by a confrontation with China, including almost 1 million in the 449 Clinton counties.

That’s because China’s potential retaliatory targets include white-collar industries such as pharmaceuticals and aerospace. House Republicans are defending 23 districts won by Clinton 17 months ago, and trade war aftershocks that rumble through Clinton counties could add to GOP woes in the affected red seats.

Working-class voters might not fret too much about stock market volatility attributed to Trump’s trade policies. But it could push the white collar set right into the arms of the Democrats, especially in educated, upscale suburbs that typically vote Republican but are drifting, because of dissatisfaction with the president’s polarizing leadership.

“If I were a Democrat, what I would be running up Trump’s ass is how these shenanigans are DESTROYING values in 401ks and college savings plans,” a GOP strategist said. “Most people don’t know a cashew farmer or whiskey distiller but do worry about their own retirement account and paying for college.”

The problem for President Trump is that according to an April 5th article by Newsmax, as reported by Morning Consult, Trump’s approval rating across the 50 states has fallen to 41%. The Rasmussen Poll shows Trump rising to 51%, but when polling is done at a state level, it is not that pretty. In contrast to West Virginia, which shows a huge bump for Trump, Iowa dropped by 9 points, Idaho dropped by 6 points, Montana by 5 points and Oklahoma by 5 points. These states have several things in common. First, they are strong Republican red states and second they are agriculture states. Iowa has been a very reliable Republican state, but is now considered a battleground state.

In addition, on February 8, 2018, the Wall Street Journal reported that in contrast to the rest of the economy, farm Incomes are falling, “Farm incomes are forecast to decline 7% to $60 billion in 2018.”

To win the midterms, these states have to stay in the Republican column. For Trump to win the Presidency in 2020, he has to carry the farm belt. If he loses the farm states, he loses the Presidency.

Congress has been reluctant to do anything beyond warn the Trump administration that it risks a full-blown trade war, although behind the scenes some lawmakers, especially Republicans, want the government to ﬁnd a quick solution to the tension.

“Every town hall I go to, trade or tariﬀs is one of the big questions. That’s what’s on their mind,” said Sen. Joni Ernst (R., Iowa) . . . . “They are starting to question the president and where we’re going with this,” she said, adding that she was going to express her concerns directly to Mr. Trump on Wednesday. “I need for him to understand that we’re hurting in the Midwest and this is not helping.”

Iowa is among the largest soybean- producing states, and the state’s other senator, Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, noted on Wednesday that he had cautioned Mr. Trump his administration would own any harmcaused by Chinese retaliation.

Emphasis added.

THE REAL PROBLEM OF A TRADE WAR WITH CHINA—THE AVERAGE AMERICAN SUPPORTS TRUMP ON THIS ACTION—CHINA STARTED IT

On the day, China announced its $50 billion retaliation list, much of which was aimed at constituents of Donald Trump, including US farmers in rural states, Rasmussen reported that Donald Trump’s popularity for the first time in its daily polling had shot to 51%.

The People’s Daily recently asked me to comment on the Section 232 and 301 trade actions against China. As I stated in my comments, the majority of Americans, 70% in recent polls, believe that it is time to stand up to China’s trade practices. Many Americans see Chinese trade practices as being unfair. So the perception of trade disputes with China is very different than the perception of trade disputes with other countries, such as the EC, Mexico and Canada. In fact, after the Chinese Government proposed $50 billion in tariffs in response to the US tariffs and Trump countered with another $100 billion in proposed tariffs, many Americans indicated strong support for President Trump.

The Chinese press indicates that many Chinese are very angry at the US and Trump, but the US Press indicates that many Americans believe that China has taken too much advantage of the US China trade relationship and strongly support President Trump. With both the Chinese and US populations riled up, this makes it much more difficult for the Governments to step back and negotiate a settlement.

In the March 22nd Editorial, “Trump’s China Tariﬀs”, the Wall Street Journal, in effect, stated that China started the trade war. Although the Wall Street Journal states that Trump’s trade policy with China is the wrong economic strategy to get it to change, the WSJ also states:

“No one should be surprised by the $60 billion in border taxes on China, given that Mr. Trump campaigned on worse. He is also responding to the genuine problem of Chinese mercantilism. China’s government steals the intellectual property of U.S. companies or forces them to turn it over, and Beijing uses regulation to discriminate against foreign ﬁrms.

This might have been tolerable when China was a smaller economy trying to reform, and the U.S. made a reasonable bet in 2001 when it let China enter the World Trade Organization. The gamble was that China would continue to reform, adapt to global trade norms, and eventually become a genuine market economy.

That hope showed early promise but has become forlorn as President Xi Jinping has pushed “national champions” like Huawei and Tencent. Facebook still can’t operate in China, and Tesla is punished with a 25% tariﬀ on imported electric cars. The U.S. tariﬀ on cars from China is 2.5%. China’s predatory behavior has eroded political support in the West for the very free-trade rules that have lifted hundreds of millions of Chinese out of poverty.”

Emphasis added.

But the Wall Street Journal (“WSJ”) in the same editorial warned:

“The President’s trade hawks, led by White House aide Peter Navarro, want to punish China more than they want to change its behavior. Mr. Navarro really does believe that China today is the equivalent of Germany a century ago. Mr. Trump said Thursday that this tariﬀ action would be “the ﬁrst of many.” This is the mentality that could lead to a trade war and economic damage for everyone. . . .”

When it comes to free trade and economics, the Wall Street Journal is the voice of reason, which many free trade Republicans in Congress listen to.

On April 6, 2018, after Trump’s announcement of another $100 billion in tariffs, the WSJ in an article entitled “The Architect of Trump’s Tough-on-China Policy” described in detail USTR Lighthizer’s strategy with regards to China:

WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump’s tough policy on China trade took shape in a White House meeting last August—and at the center was an often-overlooked man.

Decades of quiet negotiations had gotten nowhere, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told senior White House advisers and cabinet oﬃcials gathered in the Roosevelt Room.

“China is tap, tap, tapping us along,” he said, meaning it regularly promised policy changes but didn’t deliver. He punctuated his talk with charts showing how the trade deﬁcit with Beijing had widened. . . .

U.S. Ambassador to China Terry Branstad, linked by videophone, asked for a chance to conduct another round of talks based on a rapport he was developing with the Chinese. He found little support. It was time to act, starting with a formal investigation of China for unfair trade practices, Mr. Lighthizer argued.

A few days later, Mr. Trump announced an investigation of alleged Chinese violations of U.S. intellectual-property rights—headed by Mr. Lighthizer. It marked the start of the most dramatic and high-risk eﬀort in decades to force the world’s second largest economy to change its behavior, which culminated this week in an order threatening to slap tariﬀs on $50 billion of Chinese imports, a move that also had Mr. Lighthizer’s imprint on it.

After China threatened tariﬀs on an equal amount of imports from the U.S., Mr. Trump on Thursday called that “unfair retaliation” and said he might put tariﬀs on a further $100 billion of Chinese imports, tripling the amount subject to them. A Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman said on Friday Beijing ”is fully prepared to hit back forcefully and without hesitation.”

Mr. Lighthizer’s role became clear to the Chinese when the Trump economic team landed in Beijing in November for a round of discussions. Mr. Trump made sure the U.S. trade representative met with top Chinese leaders while some others waited outside.

In a session with President Xi Jinping, Mr. Lighthizer laid out how fruitless the U.S. considered past negotiations and how the president was concerned the U.S. trade deﬁcit continued to expand. While US oﬃcials saw Mr. Lighthizer’s comments as a lawyerly argument, Chinese oﬃcials described their reaction as shocked.

Today, Mr. Lighthizer is exchanging letters with China’s senior economic envoy on measures Beijing could take to head oﬀ a trade war. Negotiations are likely to stretch over many months— an ambiguity that could rattle ﬁnancial markets and lift prices on goods earmarked for tariﬀs. . . .

Many U.S. businesses say they are fed up with what they view as unfair Chinese subsidies to local companies, and strong-arm tactics that make them hand over technology to Chinese partners. Still, they worry U.S. threats of tariﬀs could backﬁre and leave them vulnerable to retaliation. . . .

Early in the Trump administration, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, a longtime Trump ally who had done business in China, was expected to lead China economic policy. He privately referred to Mr. Lighthizer, a former trade attorney, as his lawyer, say business executives, who took it as a slight. A Commerce oﬃcial said Mr. Ross meant only that the two had worked together previously on steel issues.

Mr. Ross’s star dimmed when the president dismissed an early package of deals the commerce secretary negotiated with Beijing as little more than a repackaging of past oﬀers, say senior White House oﬃcials. “Shut it down,” Mr. Trump told Mr. Ross in July when he stripped Mr. Ross of his China role and closed down the talks, according to senior administration oﬃcials.

Mr. Ross continues to work on China issues, including advising Mr. Lighthizer on which Chinese imports to target for tariﬀs, a Commerce oﬃcial said.

To so-called nationalists like trade aide Peter Navarro, who was itching to take on China, Mr. Lighthizer was a China hawk. Mr. Navarro is mainly an idea man, who has seen his role as making sure the White House carries out the president’s campaign pledge to stop China from “ripping us left and right.” Mr. Lighthizer runs a trade agency, plots strategy and carries it out. The two have worked together to develop on China policy, though they sometimes disagree on tactics.

To the so-called globalists such as former National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn, who worried about the impact of trade ﬁghts on markets, Mr. Lighthizer was the skilled attorney and former congressional aide who understood how Washington worked.

To Mr. Trump, Mr. Lighthizer was a kindred spirit on trade—and one who shuns the limelight. The two men, who have a similar chip-on-the-shoulder sense of humor, bonded. Mr. Lighthizer caught rides to his Florida home on Air Force One. Mr. Trump summons Mr. Lighthizer regularly to the Oval Oﬃce to discuss trade matters, administration oﬃcials say.

“Lighthizer has everyone’s trust, regardless of their views on trade,” said Kevin Hassett, the White House chief economist. . . .

Mr. Lighthizer, on the other hand, is a skilled international trade litigator, more in the mold of former U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky, who negotiated China’s entry into the WTO. The Trump team thinks China experts have been too quick to back oﬀ in negotiations with Beijing.

By the time he took oﬃce in May, the administration was ﬁghting internally over whether to impose tariﬀs on steel and aluminum imports globally. China policy was on the back burner.

While Mr. Lighthizer believed the metal glut was due to Chinese excess production, say administration oﬃcials, he thought a ﬁght at that point would be self-defeating because the focus would be on U.S. tariﬀs, not Chinese trade and investment practices. Assessing tariﬀs on all steel exporters, many of which are U.S. allies, would paint the U.S. as a villain instead of China.

Rather than risk the ire of Mr. Trump, who considered steel tariﬀs a campaign promise, Mr. Lighthizer worked quietly with Mr. Cohn and others to get the issue set aside in favor of other priorities.

U.S. trade representatives often regard themselves as lawyers for U.S. exporters, trying to open up new markets. Mr. Lighthizer saw things diﬀerently, viewing big U.S. companies as job outsourcers that sometimes had to be reined in.

At a September meeting with about 100 CEOs organized by the Business Roundtable, he said he understood they had to maximize proﬁts, which sometimes meant exporting jobs. “My job is diﬀerent,” he told the group, according to participants. “My job is to represent the American workers. We’re going to disagree.” It was a position some in the audience found arrogant. . . .

As with his boss, bluntness is his calling card. In the mid-1980s, as a U.S. Trade Representative oﬃcial who negotiated with Japan, he once grew so frustrated he took a Japanese proposal, turned it into a paper airplane and ﬂoated it back at the Japanese negotiators as a joke. In Japan, he became known as “the missile man.”

In a Senate hearing last month, when Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington said his China plans could hurt U.S. aircraft makers, he dismissed her concerns as “nonsense.”

As the U.S. moved toward confrontation with China last fall, after the August Roosevelt Room session, Mr. Lighthizer worked to make sure the administration was united. Previously, the U.S. had often balked at confronting China out of fear a ﬁght would tank the global economy and make China less willing to help on national-security issues.

Defense chief Jim Mattis, though, backed a tough approach because he was concerned China was illicitly obtaining U.S. technology and could gain a military edge, say individuals familiar with his thinking. Others in the national-security agencies were tired of what they felt were unmet Chinese promises on Korea and other security issues.

Mr. Cohn, then the economy chief, was as fed up with Beijing as Mr. Lighthizer, say oﬃcials. As a longtime president of Goldman Sachs, Mr. Cohn had lobbied to do business unimpeded in China and didn’t get the approvals he sought.

At the end of February, China sent its chief economic envoy, Liu He, to Washington to try to restart negotiations. Mr. Liu was ready to pledge that Beijing would open its ﬁnancial market.

He found a frosty welcome. The Chinese embassy had requested 40 visas so Mr. Liu could bring a full entourage. The State Department granted just a handful.

Mr. Liu couldn’t get any time with President Trump. Instead, he met with Mr. Lighthizer, Mr. Cohn and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. The three delivered a simple message, say oﬃcials familiar with the talks: The U.S. isn’t going to get “tapped around” like prior administrations.

The U.S. wanted substantial changes in trade practices and barriers, which Mr. Lighthizer detailed. They included cutting the tariﬀ China imposes on auto imports from 25% to something closer to the U.S. tariﬀ of 2.5%. The U.S. also wanted a $100 billion reduction of its $375 billion annual merchandise trade deﬁcit with China. To punctuate those demands, the administration planned to threaten tariﬀs.

One more obstacle needed to be cleared away. President Trump, frustrated that the steel- tariﬀ matter had been indeﬁnitely delayed, was sympathetic to pitches by Messrs. Navarro and Ross that he should ﬁnally move on the issue. In early March, Mr. Trump said he would impose 25% tariﬀs on steel and 10% tariﬀs on aluminum from any exporting nation.

The international response threatened to drown out the China initiative as U.S. allies complained they were unfairly targeted.

On Tuesday evening, March 20, senior oﬃcials gathered again in the Roosevelt Room to decide how to proceed with the tariﬀs scheduled to go into eﬀect in three days. Mr. Navarro, the trade adviser, argued tariﬀs should be imposed across the board as the president threatened, say oﬃcials. That would increase U.S. leverage with steel-exporting nations, which could be expected to oﬀer concessions to avoid tariﬀs, he argued.

Mr. Lighthizer, aligned this time with Mr. Ross, pressed for an alternative course. Grant nearly all nations except China temporary exclusions from the tariﬀs, they proposed, according to participants, but then limit their exports through quotas. That would make the U.S. seem more reasonable in steel negotiations and help form a coalition against China.

The group produced a memo in which the diﬀerent views were articulated. Mr. Trump backed Mr. Lighthizer’s side.

With the steel issue defused, at least temporarily, Mr. Trump announced on March 22 the U.S. would threaten tariﬀs on Chinese imports. He thanked Mr. Lighthizer for his help and invited him to say a few words.

“This is an extremely important action,” Mr. Lighthizer said, “very signiﬁcant and very important for the future of the country, really, across industries.”

Over coming months, the ability of the U.S. to maintain pressure on China will depend on factors including the reaction of markets, opposition by U.S. industries and farmers, and retaliation by China against U.S. companies. Chinese leaders say they are conﬁdent they would prevail in a trade war, say U.S. individuals who have met with them recently, and chalk up U.S. threats to Mr. Trump’s midterm congressional electioneering.

Jorge Guajardo, a former Mexican ambassador to China and now a Washington consultant, has seen up close how Beijing can pressure companies and wear down governments. “The big question is, ‘Will the U.S. blink?’” he said. “Or will they stay the course so China is forced to understand there is a new way of doing business.”

As I predicted in past newsletters when Robert Lighthizer originally obtained the USTR job, he would be a very tough negotiator especially with China.

To also see the raw emotion about China’s trade policies, see the videos mentioned above at the following two links. The first link is for Robert Lighthizer’s testimony at House Ways and Means on March 21st with the focus on the Section 301 against China at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxqNWw5PObk. The second link is to the testimony of Wilbur Ross at the House Ways and Means on March 22nd at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vylt-NTsT8I. Throughout the hearings, all the Congressmen and Ross himself put tremendous emphasis on China’s overcapacity in the Steel and Aluminum industries. Many Congressmen agreed that substantial pressure had to be put on China because of its trade policy and the perception that for too long China has taken advantage of the US in trade negotiations. The videos are long, but the US emotions and political feeling about trade with China are very real.

On March 25th in another editorial entitled “Donald Trump’s China tariffs make sense”, USA Today came out in favor of the Trump trade policy with regards to China:

“The Chinese should know that business as usual isn’t fair trade: Our view

President Trump has done many counterproductive things on trade. His recently announced (and later scaled back) steel tariffs, for example, will punish car makers and other industrial users of steel. And his decision to pick fights with nations in Europe and North America needlessly angers important allies.

But with his announcement to impose penalties on up to $60 billion in Chinese imports, Trump has finally hit on a trade action that makes a certain amount of sense.

China’s numerous state-owned companies limit access to Chinese markets, while exports to the United States continue at a robust level. Its practice of requiring foreign companies to share trade secrets in return for market access is nothing short of a shakedown. And its tolerance for (perhaps even encouragement of) theft of intellectual property makes it a lawless frontier for international companies trying to do business

Trump’s threatened tariffs are meant to effect change in China, not — as is often the case with tariffs — to protect U.S. industries that know how to throw their weight around politically.

Many free-traders will see these tariffs as yet another in a long line of counterproductive moves by the president. There could be some truth to that reasoning. But the tariffs also reflect a growing belief among U.S. business leaders that a laissez-faire approach simply isn’t working.

Such an approach relies on the power of markets, free enterprise and the survival of the fittest companies. In China, however, a gargantuan, single-party state holds the leverage to dictate terms to private companies.

Whether these tariffs work is an open question. China will naturally respond with its own tariffs, focused on U.S. agricultural products, and perhaps with a more truculent foreign policy. . . .

To truly be effective, these threatened tariffs should be combined with the U.S. re-entry into the Trans-Pacific Partnership…, a proposed trading zone linking 11 nations (not including China) in Asia and the Americas. In fact, if the United States were to take only one action to put pressure on China, joining the TPP would be the better approach.

TPP would turn the dispute with China into a multilateral affair. In virtually all efforts to pressure a nation to change its ways, a concerted effort by multiple nations is more successful than one nation going it alone.

The road ahead won’t be easy. Trump has not done himself any favors by alienating many U.S. allies in Canada, Mexico and Europe. Or with his rash decision, at the beginning of his presidency, to take the United States out of TPP.

Even so, there’s nothing wrong with sending a message to China that business as usual isn’t sustainable.”

On March 25th, on New York Radio, the “The Cats Roundtable,” John Bolton, President Donald Trump’s newly appointed national security adviser, stated:

“[T]he president was trying to communicate to signal to China is for far too long China has taken advantage of its place in the world; trade organizations and trade arrangements. The Chinese have stolen intellectual property, patent information copyrights and trademarks, business secrets. They take the information and they don’t honor the patent rights as it might be or the copyright rights — they just copy it and build their own. It’s theft. There’s no other description for it, so when you steal somebody else’s property and make money off of it yourself, it really magnifies the consequences for American industry in a very negative way.”

I think this could be a little shock therapy.”

On April 6, 2018 in an opinion piece in the Washington Post entitled, “Trump is right: China’s a trade cheat”, Fareed Zakaria, a known Trump critic and commentator on CNN, a very anti-Trump TV network, stated his agreement on Trump’s trade China trade policy:

Ever since the resignation of top advisers Gary Cohn and H.R. McMaster, it does seem as if the Trump White House has gotten more chaotic, if that is possible. But amid the noise and tumult, including the alarming tweets about Amazon and Mexico, let’s be honest — on one big, fundamental point, President Trump is right: China is a trade cheat.

Many of the Trump administration’s economic documents have been laughably sketchy and amateurish. But the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative’s report to Congress on China’s compliance with global trading rules [see attached report China 2017 WTO Report] is an exception worth reading. In measured prose and great detail, it lays out the many ways that China has failed to enact promised economic reforms and backtracked on others, and uses formal and informal means to block foreign firms from competing in China’s market. It points out correctly that in recent years, the Chinese government has increased its intervention in the economy, particularly taking aim at foreign companies. All of this directly contradicts Beijing’s commitments when it joined the World TradeOrganization in 2001.

Whether one accepts the trade representative’s conclusion that “the United States erred in supporting China’s entry into the WTO,” it is clear that the expectation that China would continue to liberalize its markets after its entry has proved to be mistaken. . ..

Look at the Chinese economy today. It has managed to block or curb the world’s most advanced and successful technology companies, from Google to Facebook to Amazon. Foreign banks often have to operate with local partners who add zero value — essentially a tax on foreign companies. Foreign manufacturers are forced to share their technology with local partners who then systematically reverse engineer some of the same products and compete against their partners. And then there is cybertheft. The most extensive cyberwarfare waged by a foreign power against the United States is done not by Russia but by China. The targets are American companies, whose secrets and intellectual property are then shared with Chinese competitors.

China is not alone. Countries such as India and Brazil are also trade cheats. In fact, the last series of world trade talks, the Doha Round, was killed by obstructionism from Brazil and India, in tandem with China. Today the greatest threat to the open world economy comes from these large countries that have chosen to maintain mixed economies, refuse to liberalize much more and have enough power to hold firm.

The Trump administration may not have chosen the wisest course forward — focusing on steel, slapping ontariffs, alienating key allies, working outside the WTO — but its frustration is understandable. Previous administrations exerted pressure privately, worked within the system and tried to get allies on board, with limited results. Getting tough on China is a case where I am willing to give Trump’s unconventional methods a try. Nothing else has worked.

TRADE WAR CHICKEN GAME—WHO WILL BLINK FIRST?

The United States and China have now entered a game of chicken, two governments going directly at each other over trade. The question is which government will blink first: China or the United States. I firmly believe that both countries—China and the United States need to stand down and negotiate a deal, but a deal which is enforceable. We do not want this trade war to expand further.

To Chinese friends, I would say do not escalate the rhetoric. Of course, China will retaliate if the $150 billion in tariffs are imposed, but as Trump has stated many times, he is a counterpuncher. Threatening Trump is waving a red flag in front of a bull. With the very real damage to Trump’s agricultural base, he knows how very serious these US China trade negotiations will be.

As mentioned in my blog posts just after the Presidential election in 2016, Trump’s victory was a seismic tipping point. Trump won the election because he promised to be tough on trade. Trade was never a major issue in a US election. Trade and specifically trade with China has now become one of the most important political issues in the US. China is a major reason for this sea change in US politics.

As indicated above, the WSJ articulates the position of the many Americans and the US Congress perfectly. When China entered the WTO, Premier Zhu Ronji was China’s economic genius. He wanted to get China into the WTO not to appease the US, but to help China internally and push it to become a more market oriented country and to lessen the impact of the State-Owned Companies. I heard Premier Zhu make this statement in New York City in the early 2000s.

But now China appears to be moving away from a market oriented country and putting much more emphasis on State-Oriented capitalism. The Chines State uses its economic might to target technologies and increase its economic might so as to achieve a dominant economic position in the World.

The rise in China is to be expected as China achieves the very high historical position it held in the World. But if China wants to use its economic might to achieve political dominance, the World will react to that strategy and counter it.

The perception is that the WTO has done nothing to deal with Chinese mercantilism and the rise of China’s state-oriented capitalism. The WTO is to quote Mao a “paper tiger”.

The American perception of China’s mercantilism and its state-oriented capitalism means that there is little sympathy for China and that does not bode well for the future of US China trade relations.

As Trump has made clear in many political statements, his new trade policy will be reciprocity. The United States will not open its border to Chinese imports if China shuts down its own border to US exports in the same sector. The United States will not let Chinese companies invest in certain sectors of the US economy if China prohibits investment by US companies.

That is where the Trump trade policy is headed. With trade being the main political issue at the present time, I suspect that the Trump trade policy will become the US trade policy not only during the Trump Presidency but the US trade policy for many years in the future.

To my US friends, I would make the point that the Chinese have a different World view. We have the American dream, but China has its own dream. Thus, it would be a big mistake to make a personal attack on the Chinese government and the Chinese people.

On April 5th, in an article entitled “Mexican president to Trump: ‘Nothing and no one stands above the dignity of Mexico”, Politico reported:

President Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico blasted Donald Trump in a video message on Thursday, vowing that “nothing and no one stands above the dignity of Mexico” and adding that the U.S. president’s main gripes were Congress’ problem, not Mexico’s. . . .

“As Mexicans, we may disagree among ourselves, especially during election periods, but we will always be united when it comes to defending our country’s dignity and sovereignty,” Peña Nieto said.

The same point stands with regards to China. On April 5th I heard a Fox News reporter state we want the US to be the hegemon, the major power in the World. China wants the same thing. They want to be the hegemon, just like the United States, the major power in the World. Does that mean that inevitably there will be a military conflict between the United States and China? Hopefully not.

One reader blasted me because I did not describe China as Communist China. Sorry, I do not want to go back to the period before Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger opened China to the outside world. I do not want to go to war with China, but “hegemon” talk fuels nationalist/jingoist talk that we the United States are so powerful everyone must bow down to us.

That is what Adolf Hitler believed with regard to Germany and his memorial in Berlin is a parking lot over his old World War 2 bunker as Germany has done everything in its power to educate the average person about the real danger of the Nazi creed and, in effect, to expunge Hitler and Nazism from its history. World War 2 left Germany destroyed and caused the deaths of 20 million people. That is where puffed up nationalism leads.

Recently, in a video called the Value of Travel, Rick Steves, a well-known travel writer and producer on PBS, stated that he spends on average 4 months every year out of the United States. Steves stated that one of the major benefits of his travel experience is that he has learned that although we in the US have the American dream, people in other countries have their own national dreams. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYXiegTXsEs.

The point is that I view China as a friendly economic competitor and would rather trade with China than go to war with it. President Xi Jinping has pledged to the peaceful rise of China, and I hope that is what China truly believes or millions of lives will be lost in another World War, something to be avoided at all costs.

The bottom line is that Trump’s trade war with China is very risky and it will be a very bumpy ride in the next few months with developments on a day by day basis. But my firm hope is trade agreements that will be win win, not only for the United States, but for our trading partners, including China. We all need good trade deals, which are enforceable.

In my second blog post, I will outline from a technical point of view, the developments in the Section 232 Steel and Aluminum cases, the Section 301 IP Case against China, NAFTA negotiations and new trade cases against China.

This blog post contains several articles about trade and Trump after his victory on November 8th. The Trump victory will have a significant impact on trade policy. As stated below, the TPP is dead. The Republican Congress will not oppose Trump and bring the TPP to the Congressional floor in the Lame Duck. The TPP may only come back when and if the trade safety net, including Trade Adjustment Assistance for Firms/Companies, is fixed.

The trade impact on the Rust Belt states, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Ohio, is a major reason for the Trump victory. Trump’s victory means that trade wars may escalate. But with the increase in trade wars, global trade has already started falling and that means a 2015 drop of $200 billion in US exports. Exports create US jobs too and when exports fall US jobs fall.

As Congressman Don Bonker states, trade conflicts with China and other countries will increase both from the US and the Chinese side. Trump may well self-initiate trade cases against China and China will bring cases against the US. But Congressional Republicans will try to limit Trump’s protectionist nature.

Xi Jinping of China has already stated that the Chinese government wants to work with President Trump because of the importance of the US China economic relationship.

Complicating the situation is that last week the EC has proposed a change to its antidumping and countervailing to allow it to continue to treat China as a nonmarket economy country or as a country which distorts its market by government practices.

On the other hand, we can expect Congress to work very close with President Trump on different policy initiatives to make the United States a much more fertile ground for US manufacturing. This will mean cuts in Corporate tax rates and the reduction in production curtailing regulations. Trump will try and do everything possible to increase jobs in the United States. Hopefully, that will mean more support to Trade Adjustment Assistance for Companies, which is the only effective US trade remedy that saves companies and the jobs that go with them.

Under the Universal Trade War theme, there are articles by Chinese lawyers on Chinese antidumping law, along with newsletter from an Indian lawyer about Indian trade law. Many of these cases in other countries target the United States.

In addition, there is an article about Customs Evasion in the Aluminum Extrusions antidumping case and several recent 337 intellectual property cases against China.

If anyone has any questions or wants additional information, please feel free to contact me at my e-mail address bill@harrismoure.com.

Best regards,

Bill Perry

TRADE AND TRADE POLICY

TRUMP VICTORY AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR TRADE

Donald Trump won the Presidency on November 8th, and on January 20, 2017 Trump will become the 45th President of the United States. What does this mean for trade?

TPP IS DEAD

With the Trump victory, Republicans in the House and the Senate will not fight Trump and will not bring the Trans Pacific Partnership (“TPP”) to the floor during the Lame Duck session. According to recent press reports, Trump might try and renegotiate TPP, but as written, TPP is dead.

Several weeks ago during the heat of the campaign, Paul Ryan, Speaker of the House of Representatives, stated that he could no longer campaign with Donald Trump. ln a speech on November 9th, the day after the Trump victory, House Speaker Paul Ryan ate humble pie.

Ryan also made it clear that he was extremely grateful because Trump was the first time Republican Presidential candidate to win Wisconsin’s electoral votes, his home state, since 1984. Ryan also stated that Trump had coat tails. Trump’s victory allowed down ballet Republicans to win. The most important example of that was Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson, who was in a very tough reelection campaign. Trump’s victory helped Ron Jonson win and allowed the Republicans to hold on to the Senate by a 51 to 49 plurality.

The simple political reality is that Trump’s victory allowed the Republicans to hold a majority in the Senate and the House.

As Paul Ryan stated,

“Donald Trump heard a voice in this country that no one else heard. He connected in ways with people that no one else did. He turned politics on its head. And now Donald Trump will lead a unified Republican government.”

There is no way that Paul Ryan is going to oppose Trump and bring the TPP to the floor of Congress in the face of that political feat. Let the next Administration deal with this issue. As explained below, the TPP will probably stay dead until Congress and the Administration fix the Trade Adjustment Assistance for Firms/Companies program and make many US companies competitive again so they can withstand competition from imports.

It should be noted that those Republicans that distanced themselves from Trump, such as Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, lost their races. In light of the Trump victory and his opposition to Trump, Governor John Kasich will have little weight when he argues for the TPP.

TRUMP’S PROTECTIONIST ARGUMENT TO THE RUST BELT STATES DROVE HIS VICTORY

The big surprise in the Trump victory was that traditionally Democratic states, the Rust Belt, of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania and Ohio all went for Trump. To illustrate the shock to the Democratic party, Hilary Clinton did not even campaign in the State of Wisconsin because the Democrats assumed they had Wisconsin in the bag. Why did these Rust Belt states go for Trump? Trade.

The person who forecast this victory was Michael Moore, the very famous Democratic gadfly and movie producer. In a true statement against interest, last summer Michael Moore explained why he, the Good Democrat, believed that Trump would win the election—the Rust Belt and Trade. http://michaelmoore.com/trumpwillwin/. Donald Trump spoke out against the US automobile companies moving their manufacturing to Mexico. Trump threatened that if they did, a President Trump would impose a 35% tariff on all these cars coming back to the United States. The Auto executives were stunned, but the Working Class in Michigan stood up and cheered. See Moore’s powerful video predicting the Trump victory https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKeYbEOSqYc. As Moore stated, Donald Trump is the “human Molotov cocktail” that these working people want to throw through the establishment window.

Ohio’s Cuyahoga County Republican Party Chairman Robert S. Frost stated that he believes that Trump’s trade message had a deep and profound effect on the regional electorate in Ohio:

“The economy has been going gangbusters, the U.S. has been expanding its trade relationships … but there are people here who [were] working, at many times, very skilled jobs that they took a great deal of pride in. They felt like they were left behind in this economy, and Donald Trump spoke right to that in places like Youngstown to Detroit to Milwaukee.”

Exit polls showed that half of Michigan’s voters are of the opinion that free trade takes away jobs, and those trade skeptics broke for Trump by a 57 to 36 percent margin over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. There are similar stories to be found in Ohio and Pennsylvania, where 47 percent and 53 percent of voters respectively felt that free trade hurts workers and jobs.

Trump’s arguments are the same protectionist arguments that Rust Belt Democrats have used to be elected for decades, but the Workers had seen no change. By upending conventional Republican wisdom on trade, Trump opened the door to a whole new group of voters. These workers in the Rust Belt are Nixon’s Silent Majority, the Reagan Democrats, that went for Trump.

As Frost further stated:

“Organized labor had thought that the Democrats had had their backs for the last 25 years, but they look around and see where they are, and they wonder why they had placed their faith there. Donald Trump went against what had been Republican orthodoxy on trade. Part of how we got there is that Hillary Clinton … began taking an internationalist position of trade for trade’s sake, as opposed to representing an American position on trade.”

Trump appealed to the emotions of workers who felt wronged by a steady pattern of trade liberalization that is, in their minds, was about to get much worse if the U.S. Congress had been able to ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership accord,

Budget-deficit hawks often insist that the only way to balance the Federal budget is to raise taxes or cut spending. The far smarter path to balance the budget is simply to grow our economy faster.

From 1947 to 2001, the U.S. real gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 3.5 percent. Since 2002, that rate has fallen to 1.9 percent — at the cost of millions of jobs and trillions of dollars of additional income and tax revenues.

This new normal argument — it should more appropriately be called the “new dismal” — also ignores the self-inflicted negative impacts from poorly negotiated trade deals and the failure to enforce them. These bad deals include, most notably, NAFTA, China’s entry into the World Trade Organization in 2001, and, most recently, Hillary Clinton’s debilitating 2012 U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement.

In 2012, then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton promised that the “cutting edge” South Korean deal would create 70,000 new jobs. Instead, the US has lost 95,000 jobs and America’s trade deficit with South Korea has roughly doubled. Moreover, workers in the U.S. auto industry, particularly in states such as Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana, have been hard hit. . . .

Donald Trump has pledged to renegotiate every one of America’s bad trade deals according to the principles of the Trump Trade Doctrine. The Trump Trade Doctrine states that any new or renegotiated deal must increase the GDP growth rate, decrease the trade deficit, and strengthen the U.S. manufacturing base. . . .

Some critics will argue that reducing the flow of cheap imports from locales such as China, Mexico, and Vietnam will be inflationary and act as a regressive tax by denying lower-income households cheap imports. In reality, four decades of one-sided globalization and chronic trade deficits have shifted wealth and capital from workers to the mobile owners of capital and reduced the purchasing power of Americans.

A visit to cities like Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and Flint, Michigan, reveals quickly the falsehoods and broken promises of those who preach the gains from trade deficits — which are often financed by those who turn a profit from offshoring production. Trump’s proposals will reverse these trends, concentrate more wealth and purchasing power in the hands of domestic workers and result in substantially higher employment. This will more than offset any price increases. Moreover, as products develop a competitive advantage in America and increase their production and margins, prices per unit will go down.

To those alarmists who insist Trump’s trade policies will ignite a trade war, we say we are already engaged in a trade war — a war in which the American government has surrendered in before even engaging. Unfair trade practices and policies of our competitors are simply overlooked or ignored. As a well-documented result, America has already lost tens of thousands of factories, millions of jobs, and trillions in wages and tax revenues.

Donald Trump will simply put our government on the field in defense of American interests. As Trump pursues a policy of more balanced trade, our major trading partners are far more likely to cooperate with an America resolute about balancing its trade than they are likely to provoke a trade war.

This is true for one very simple reason: Our major trading partners and deficit counterparties are far more dependent on our markets — the largest in the world — than we are on their markets.

Consider that in 2015, we ran a trade deficit in goods of $746 billion. 76 percent of that trade deficit in goods concerned just four countries: China ($367 billion); Germany ($75 billion); Japan ($69 billion); and Mexico ($61 billion).

If we look at the bilateral relationships of America with each of these countries, improvement in our trade balance is clearly achievable through some combination of increased exports and reduced imports, albeit after some tough, smart negotiations — an obvious Trump strength. The same possibilities exist with countries where we are running smaller, but nonetheless significant, deficits, such as Vietnam ($31 billion), South Korea ($28 billion), Italy ($28 billion), and India ($23 billion).

Such deficit reduction negotiations will not be wild-eyed, hip-shooting exercises. A key part of the Trump strategy will be to divert some of the products our deficit counterparties import to U.S. suppliers.

For example, many of our trading partners with which we run large trade deficits import substantial hydrocarbons from elsewhere. It would not be difficult for, say, China, Japan, Germany, and South Korea to buy more U.S. hydrocarbons. Trump intends to end the regulatory constraints on hydrocarbon production and hydrocarbon exports, resulting in as much as $95 billion gains for the U.S.

Our deficit counterparties also import lots of industrial equipment and supplies of plastics and other materials, some from the U.S. already. There is ample room here for them — along with countries like India, Mexico, and Vietnam — to switch vendors.

Trump’s strategic approach to trade negotiations would begin with product-by-product and country-by-country analyses. Our negotiators would set goals that are achievable and pursue them fiercely. No prior administration has ever approached trade as surgically as a Trump Administration would.

As a business person, rather than a politician, Trump understands this: There is no more reason to let our major trading partners take advantage of us than there is for a large private company to permit its vendors to do so.

You will notice we have not mentioned tariffs. They will be used if necessary against mercantilist cheating, but only in a very precise and defensive way.

Ultimately, our view is that doing nothing about unfair trade practices is the most hazardous course of action — and the results of this hazard are lived out every day by millions of displaced American workers and deteriorating communities. We simply cannot trade on their one-sided terms; they are just too destructive to the U.S. growth process.

At the end of the day — and on November 8th — voters have a very clear choice between Trump’s smart path to rapid growth and budget balance and Hillary Clinton’s new dismal world of economic stagnation. At least on the economy, this choice is clear.

Emphasis added.

The problem with the argument, however, is that it is based on the economic situation decades ago when the US was the largest market in the World. That is no longer true. China with its 1.2 billion population has a larger market than the US. House Speaker Paul Ryan has cited many times that 75% of the World’s consumers are outside the United States.

The real problem with Trump’s trade policy is uncertainty. No one knows how aggressive Trump will be in a new Administration. Through the Commerce Department self-initiating antidumping and countervailing duty cases and bringing Section 201 Escape Clause cases against the World, a President Trump can certainly increase protectionist barriers in the US.

A President Trump can unravel NAFTA and dump the TPP, but if the US erects substantial barriers to US imports, countries around the World will respond by increasing barriers to US exports.

NOT RETALIATION RECIPROCITY

The problem with protectionism is that trade is a two-way street and what the US can do to countries, they can do back. In my last blog post, I stated that although many US politicians, including Donald Trump, want to adopt a mercantilist trade policy which favors pushing exports and protecting US industries from imports, the US politicians simply do not understand retaliation. In this blog post, I want to restate this because the issue is not retaliation. It is reciprocity.

Retaliation implies a tit for tat response. You attack us. We attack you. The United States files an antidumping case targeting $4 billion in imports of Solar Cells from China, and China responds with a meritless Chinese antidumping case targeting $2 billion in imports of Polysilicon from the United States. But that is not what truly happened. In the Chinese polysilicon case, for example, the Chinese polysilicon industry was truly being hurt by US imports.

The real issue is reciprocity. If the US can use its antidumping and countervailing duty laws to find dumping and subsidization in more than 90% of the cases, the Chinese governments and governments around the World can make the same finding with regards to imports from the United States. What goes around comes around.

Free trade agreements, such as the TPP and the TTIP, which would break this cycle are now dead as the US and each country wants to put its industries first and make their country and industries great again. The rise in economic nationalism results in trade wars in which country after country will fire trade guns against each other.

The argument that trade wars are already going on is true, but what the pundits do not realize is that under Trump the trade wars will get bigger. The US has antidumping and countervailing duty orders covering $30 billion in imports from China. The Chinese government has orders blocking about $10 billion in imports from the US, including polysilicon, chicken, numerous chemical products, and steel products. Just recently, the Chinese government has issued an antidumping order blocking over $1 billion in Chinese imports from the United States of distiller grains, and now there is talk about a case targeting $15 billion of imports of US soybeans. What goes around comes around.

In a November 11th editorial, entitled “The Message Of Donald Trump’s Stunning Victory” the International Business Daily stated that the one policy which has to be reined in by Republicans in Congress is trade:

“Republicans will also have to work hard to temper Trump’s anti-free-trade instincts. A trade war is the one big risk Trump’s presidency represents for the economy. Trump has repeatedly the he is all in favor of free trade, and the GOP needs to hold him to those words.”

TRADE IS FALLING AROUND THE WORLD

Moreover, on October 30, 2016, Binyamin Applebaum in an article entitled “A Little-Noticed Fact About Trade: It’s No Longer Rising” found that trade around the world is dropping, including a drop of $200 billion in US exports:

“The growth of trade among nations is among the most consequential and controversial economic developments of recent decades. Yet despite the noisy debates, which have reached new heights during this Presidential campaign, it is a little-noticed fact that trade is no longer rising. The volume of global trade was flat in the first quarter of 2016, then fell by 0.8 percent in the second quarter, according to statisticians in the Netherlands, which happens to keep the best data.

The United States is no exception to the broader trend. The total value of American imports and exports fell by more than $200 billion last year. Through the first nine months of 2016, trade fell by an additional $470 billion It is the first time since World War II that trade with other nations has declined during a period of economic growth. . ..

But there are also signs that the slowdown is becoming structural. Developed nations appear to be backing away from globalization.

The World Trade Organization’s most recent round of global trade talks ended in failure last year. The Trans-Pacific Partnership, an attempt to forge a regional agreement among Pacific Rim nations, also is foundering. It is opposed by both major-party American presidential candidates. Meanwhile, new barriers are rising. Britain is leaving the European Union. The World Trade Organization said in July that its members had put in place more than 2,100 new restrictions on trade since 2008.

“Curbing free trade would be stalling an engine that has brought unprecedented welfare gains around the world over many decades,” Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, wrote in a recent call for nations to renew their commitment to trade. . . .

But even if growth rebounds, automation reduces the incentives to invest in the low- labor-cost developing world, and it reduces the benefits of such investments for the residents of developing countries.”

UNFAIR TRADE CASES DO NOT WORK; THEY DO NOT SAVE THE US COMPANIES

The problem with the potential Trump policy of bringing more unfair trade cases to solve the trade problem is that trade cases do not work. They do not save the companies and the jobs that go with them.

Bethlehem Steel, a history that I am personally aware of, had 40 years of protection from steel imports through various antidumping and countervailing duty cases and orders. Where is Bethlehem Steel today? Green fields.

Trying to stop a wave of low priced imports by filing an unfair trade cases is like putting finger in a dike when faced with a tidal wave engulfing the entire company and industry.

When an industry and company is faced with competition from imports it is so easy to engage in globalization/international trade victimhood. We poor US companies cannot compete because all imports are dumped and subsidized.

For countries and companies faced with import competition, the easy solution is blame the foreigner. The only way for a company to truly survive, however, is give up the globalization victimhood mindset and do what is necessary to make the company competitive again.

EXISTING PROGRAMS TO MAKE US MANUFACTURING COMPANIES MORE COMPETITIVE IS THE ANSWER TO THE TRADE PROBLEM — TAA FOR FIRMS/COMPANIES AND THE MEP MANUFACTURING PROGRAM– BUT THEY HAVE BEEN CUT TO THE BONE

The US Government already has successful programs to make US companies injured by imports competitive again, but they have been cut to the bone. Companies and Unions that want to take advantage of these programs and survive must first change their mindset and reject the defeatism of international trade/globalization victimhood.

Those programs are:

Trade Adjustment Assistance for Firms (Commerce)

The Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (Commerce)

Economists and policy makers of all persuasions are now beginning to recognize the requirement for a robust response by this nation to foreign imports – irrespective of party affiliation or the particular free trade agreement under consideration at any given moment. Companies, workers and Government officials need to stop blaming the foreigner and figure out what they can do to compete with the foreign imports. These two programs make US companies injured by imports competitive again.

Free trade does not have to be abandoned resulting in a lose lose situation for all countries. When the US Government enters into Trade Agreements, such as NAFTA, the TPP, or the TTIP, Government action changes the market place. All of a sudden US companies can be faced with a series of flash floods of foreign competition and imports that can simply wipe out US companies. The US Government must restore the international trade safety net.

A starting point for a trade adjustment strategy would be for a combined Commerce-Labor approach building upon existing authorities and proven programs, that can be upgraded and executed forthwith.

Commerce’s Trade Adjustment Assistance for Firms (TAAF) has 11 regional (multi-state) TAAF Centers but the program has been cut to only $12.5 million annually. The system has the band-width to increase to a run rate of $50 million. Projecting a four-year ramp up of $90 million (FY18-FY21), the TAA program could serve an additional 2,150 companies.

Foreign competitors may argue that TAA for Firms/Companies is a subsidy, but the money does not go directly to the companies themselves, but to consultants to work with the companies through a series of knowledge-based projects to make the companies competitive again. Moreover, the program does not affect the US market or block imports in any way.

Does the program work? In the Northwest, where I am located, the Northwest Trade Adjustment Assistance Center has been able to save 80% of the companies that entered the program since 1984. The Mid Atlantic Trade Adjustment Assistance Center in this video at http://mataac.org/howitworks/ describes in detail how the program works and saved four companies and the jobs that go with them. The reason TAA for Firms/Companies is so successful—Its flexibility in working with companies on an individual basis to come up with a specific adjustment plan for each company to make the companies competitive again in the US market as it exists today.

Increasing funding will allow the TAA for Firms/Companies program to expand its bandwidth and provide relief to larger US companies, including possibly even steel producers. If companies that use steel can be saved by the program, why can’t the steel producers themselves?

But it will take a tough love approach to trade problems. Working with the companies’ management and the Union to forget about Globalization victimhood and start trying to actually solve the Company’s problems that hinder its competitiveness in the market as it exists today.

In addition to TAA for Firms/Companies, another important remedy needed to increase competitiveness is Commerce’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), which has a Center in each State and Puerto Rico. MEP provides high quality management and technical assistance to the country’s small manufacturers with an annual budget of $130 million. MEP, in fact, is one the remedies suggested by the TAA Centers along with other projects to make the companies competitive again.

As a consequence of a nation-wide re-invention of the system, MEP is positioned to serve even more companies. A commitment of $100 million over four years would serve an additional 8,400 firms. These funds could be targeted to the small manufacturing firms that are the base of our supply chain threatened by foreign imports.

Each of these programs requires significant non-federal match or cost share from the companies themselves, to assure that the local participants have significant skin in the game and to amplify taxpayer investment. A $250 million commitment from the U.S. government would be a tangible although modest first step in visibly addressing the local consequences of our trade policies. The Department of Commerce would operate these programs in a coordinated fashion, working in collaboration with the Department of Labor’s existing Trade Adjustment Assistance for Displaced Workers program.

TAA for Workers is funded at the $711 million level, but retraining workers should be the last remedy in the US government’s bag. If all else fails, retrain workers, but before that retrain the company so that the jobs and the companies are saved. That is what TAA for Firms/Companies and the MEP program do. Teach companies how to swim in the new market currents created by trade agreements and the US government

In short – this serious and multi-pronged approach will begin the process of stopping globalization victimhood in its tracks.

Attached is a longer proposal, taaf-2-0-white-paper, on how to expand TAA for Firms/Companies and the MEP Program to make US companies more competitive again.

UNDER TRUMP TRADE CONFLICTS WITH CHINA WILL INCREASE

As readers may remember, my deep dive on the background of this election started with a February conversation and bet with my friend, former Democratic Congressman Don Bonker. He firmly believed that Hilary Clinton would win in a landslide and the Democrats would win the Senate and the House.

I knew people that were going to vote for Trump and believed that although Clinton would probably win, it would be a close election and the Republicans would probably keep the Senate and definitely the House. Trump won the election and the Republicans kept the Senate and the House.

Set forth below are Congressman Bonker’s thoughts on what he believes the Trump election means for future US Trade Policy regarding China.

‘Election Results: U.S. China Relationship

Prepared by: Congressmen Don Bonker (Democrat)

Winston Churchill’s characterization of “democracy as the worst form of government except for all the others” was on full display in America’s 2016 presidential election. Yesterday’s torrent of election results is revealing of America’s challenges ahead, not only domestically but internationally. This report is focused on how the election results will affect the U.S. – China relationship.

CANDIDATES WEBSITE/POSITIONS ON CHINA

Hillary Clinton

Increase cooperation in areas of common interest

Reinforce alliances in the Asia-Pacific

Ratchet up the U.S. deterrent against Chinese cyberattacks

Take a stronger stance against China’s human rights record

Donald Trump

Increase U.S. military presence in and around the South China Sea

Investigate and punish China for unfair trade practices

Designate China a currency manipulator

Ratchet up the U.S. deterrent against Chinese cyberattacks

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION RESULTS. U.S. presidents are not elected by the popular vote but the so-called Electoral College – each of the 50 states select “electors” equal to the number of Congressmen — that determines the outcome. The margin is significant in that a sweeping victory with over 300 electoral votes will demonstrate a public mandate that will make the newly elected Presidents’ governing more effective. This year, Donald Trump’s victory with 289 electoral votes [which is now with Michigan and Arizona 309 votes] is not a big margin but his party being in control of both the Senate and House of Representatives, is a sufficient mandate, something of a populist uprising not seen in recent years.

The election of Donald Trump was unexpected and shocking, even troubling to many in the U.S. and around the world. The electoral vote is revealing of why and how he won the election – his anti-trade and immigration messages resonated in the four or five rust-belt states that were expected to vote for Hillary Clinton. Not unlike the Brexit vote, he played to the anger and fear that was directed at Wall Street and Washington, D.C., a movement that will definitely take the country in a new and perilous direction.

Most disconcerting is how a President Trump will conduct foreign policy given that he has no experience compared to Hillary Clinton, who served as Secretary of State and was expected to continue the Obama Administration’s policies and alliances with other countries. The U.S. China relationship is all about economics and trade, so his Seven-Step Trade Plan is an indication of what lies ahead:

Immediate withdraw from TPP and a renegotiation of NAFTA.

Appoint the “toughest and smartest trade negotiators.

Direct Department of Commerce to “identify every violation of trade agreements a foreign country is currently using to harm our worker” and direct all Federal agencies to use “every tool under American and international law” to end abuses.

Instruct the Treasury Department to label China a currency manipulator, promising that any international devaluation would be met with sharply through tariffs and taxes.

The U.S. Trade Representatives would be instructed to bring trade cases against Beijing under both U.S. laws and the WTO.

If China does not stop its illegal activities, Trump said he would invoke specific safeguards and tariff protections under Section 201 of the Trade Act of 1974.

U.S. China Relationship

In past years, presidential candidates have been known for their “tough talk on China” during campaigns but eventually succumb to the geopolitical realities once they become president. Donald Trump has gone way beyond tough talk in that he has been relentless in his China bashing and threats to take punishing actions based on unfair trade practices.

More alarming have been his comments threatening the U.S. – China relationship, on one occasion stating that “I’d love to have a trade war with China…if we did no business with China, frankly we will save a lot of money.” This hopefully is more about rhetoric than policy and a sitting President and his advisors will be more realistic and engage China in ways that will be mutually beneficial.

Ultimately, it’s not so much about the rhetoric and issues but the relationship between the two heads of state. President Obama and President Xi Jinping had a “trust” working relationship that may not go as easily with Donald Trump, but he is a master negotiator who knows how to work out deals with others. Much will also depend on who will be his cabinet ministers and senior advisors.

U.S. – International. Donald Trump’s election has many world leaders concerned given his pledge of radical actions that will project a different America. For the past 50 years, America has been the undisputed leader worldwide but that is about to change, partly because both Donald Trump’s election is rooted in American anxiety, placing the blame on globalization and trade deals for job losses and economic hardship. In recent years partisanship and politicalizing of U.S. foreign policy has intensified in a way that inhibits a President’s ability maintain America’s leadership globally.

What does this mean in terms of America’s leadership internationally? The reverberating message and new mandate that comes out of the election may be alarming to foreign leaders in that a Trump Administration’s foreign policy will be unpredictable, to be sure, on both the economic and geopolitical fronts that will lead to greater uncertainty. It will definitely be more protectionist given Mr. Trump’s ranting that trade deals have caused job losses and economic hardship. More perplexing is whether a Trump presidency will abandon America’s alliances and commitments and embark on a course that is more self-serving.

Regardless of who was elected, one of the realities will be China possibly surpassing America as the world’s most powerful nation, which will be a dramatic wake-up call for a country that has proudly embraced this status for the past hundred years. A Trump presidency taking the country down the path of isolationism may have America backing away from its global responsibilities compared to China’s highly focused set of objectives and its growing presence internationally. Indeed, China has wisely avoided involvement in geopolitical and security issues, such as the Middle East, and instead is concentrating on economic and investment development, which rapidly advances their leadership standing around the world.

CONGRESSIONAL ELECTIONS

Two weeks before the election, the Democrats were expected to take control of the U. S. Senate hopefully gaining enough seats to be the Majority Party that would be fully supportive of a Hillary Clinton presidency. Instead the Republicans will now control both branches of the U.S. government. However, it will not represent a consensus or cooperation given the deep divisions within the Republican Party, particularly how the Trump candidacy shattered political convention by criticizing Congressional leaders and charting his own path

U.S. Senate. The Constitution specifies that one-third of the Senate positions are up every election year, which worked to the advantage of Democrats since most of the ballot positions were Republicans. Yet the election results favored the Republicans who will maintain their 51-45 advantage for the next two years. The Senate has the Constitutional authority to approve treaties and appointments to high-level positions and ambassadors. There should be cooperation, given that the same party controls both branches, but Donald Trump has defied the conventional approach to doing business, so this will add to the uncertainty.

House of Representatives. For the past six years the Republicans have been in control with a significant margin, despite divisions of within the Party that inhibits their ability to be productive. Prior to the election, the Republicans held 247 of the 435 seats that are up for election every year, a safe margin. While the Democrats did pick up eleven of the Republican held seats they will continue as the Minority Party for the next few years.

The same party in control of the White House and Congress would normally make for a productive session, but uncertainty lingers given the troubled relationship between Donald Trump and Speaker Paul Ryan. Prior to the elections, a fractured Republican Party has been unified only by its opposition to President Obama’s policies, like Obamacare, so many questions remain about how the Speaker will preside over his own problems as he prepares to work with a Trump Administration.

In contrast to Congressman Bonker, my belief is that the US China relationship may, in fact, work out better than people think under President Trump. While in China last month I met many Chinese who liked Trump, despite his trade policy, which was enlightening.

Although Trump will be tough in trade negotiations, Trump is a business man and likes to do deals. That means he is truly open to negotiations.

Also many Conservative publications, such as the Wall Street Journal and Investors Business Daily (“IBD”), believe that Republican Congressional leaders, such as House Speaker Paul Ryan, may be able to prevent Trump from starting an all-out, hot, trade war against China.

But the US China cold trade war will definitely continue as there will be more US trade actions against China, and more Chinese trade actions against the US. Both countries will feel the pain.

But the relationship will become even more complicated as the EC in response to the WTO December 11, 2016 deadline to grant China market economy status proposed on November 9th amending its antidumping and countervailing law to provide that although for WTO members normal value is determined on the basis of actual prices and costs in the foreign market, in certain circumstances, e.g., China, where prices and costs are distorted because of government intervention and not free market forces, the EC Commission can look at prices and costs outside China.

EC PROPOSES CHANGES TO ITS ANTIDUMPING AND COUNTERVAILING LAW TO IN EFFECT CONTINUE TO TREAT CHINA AS A NONMARKET ECONOMY COUNTRY

On November 9, 2016 the European Commission issued the attached proposed “Regulation of the European Parliament and Of The Council,” ec-china-market-economy-regs, on the way to calculate normal value for certain nonmarket economy countries, specifically China.

The EC Commission has proposed amending its antidumping law to provide that although for WTO members normal value is determined on the basis of actual prices and costs in the foreign market, in certain circumstances, where prices and costs are distorted because of government intervention and not free market forces, e.g., China, the EC Commission can look at prices and costs outside China, stating specifically if:

domestic prices and costs would not provide a reasonable basis to determine the normal value. This could be the case, for instance, when prices or costs are not the result of free market forces because they are affected by government intervention. Relevant considerations in this respect include, for instance, the fact that the market in question is to a significant extent served by enterprises which operate under the ownership, control or policy supervision or guidance of the authorities of the exporting country; the state presence in firms allowing the state to interfere with respect to prices or costs; the existence of public policies or measures discriminating in favour of domestic suppliers or otherwise influencing free market forces; and the access to finance granted by institutions implementing public policy objectives.

In such circumstances, it would be inappropriate to use domestic prices and costs to determine the value at which the like product should be normally sold (“the normal value”) and a new provision (Article 2(6)a) stipulates that the normal value would instead be constructed on the basis of costs of production and sale reflecting undistorted prices or benchmarks. For this purpose, the sources that may be used would include undistorted international prices, costs, or benchmarks, or corresponding costs of production and sale in an appropriate representative country with a similar level of economic development as the exporting country.

This methodology would allow the Commission to establish and measure the actual magnitude of dumping being practised in normal market conditions absent distortions.

For the sake of transparency and efficiency, the Commission services intend to issue public reports describing the specific situation concerning the market circumstances in any given country or sector. Of importance, the EU industry would be in a position to rely on and refer to the information contained in these reports when alleging in a complaint or a request for review that the domestic prices and costs in the exporting country are unsuitable to determine the normal value. Such reports and the evidence on which it is based would also be placed on the file of any investigation relating to that country or sector so that all interested parties would be in a position to express their views and comments. . . .

In the light of experience gained in past proceedings, it is appropriate to clarify the circumstances in which significant distortions affecting to a considerable extent free market forces may be deemed to exist. In particular, it is appropriate to clarify that this situation may be deemed to exist, inter alia, when reported prices or costs, including the costs of raw materials, are not the result of free market forces because they are affected by government intervention. It is further appropriate to clarify that in considering whether or not such a situation exists regard may be had, inter alia, to the potential impact of the following: the market in question is to a significant extent served by enterprises which operate under the ownership, control or policy supervision or guidance of the authorities of the exporting country; state presence in firms allowing the state to interfere with respect to prices or costs; public policies or measures discriminating in favour of domestic suppliers or otherwise influencing free market forces; and access to finance granted by institutions implementing public policy objectives. It is further appropriate to provide that the Commission services may issue a report describing the specific situation concerning these criteria in a certain country or a certain sector; that such report and the evidence on which it is based may be placed on the file of any investigation relating to that country or sector . . . .

It is further appropriate to recall that costs should normally be calculated on the basis of records kept by the exporter or producer under investigation. However, where there are significant distortions in the exporting country with the consequence that costs reflected in the records of the party concerned are artificially low, such costs may be adjusted or established on any reasonable basis, including information from other representative markets or from international prices or benchmarks. In the light of experience gained in past proceedings, it is appropriate to further clarify that, for the purposes of applying the provisions introduced by this regulation, due account should be taken of all relevant evidence, including relevant assessment reports regarding the circumstances prevailing on the domestic market of the exporting producers and the evidence on which they are based, which has been placed on the file, and upon which interested parties have had an opportunity to . . .

Article 1

Regulation (EU) 2016/1036 is amended as follows:

In Article 2 the following paragraph 6a is inserted:

‘6a. (a) In case it is determined, when applying this provision or any other relevant provision of this Regulation, that it is not appropriate to use domestic prices and costs in the exporting country due to the existence of significant distortions, the normal value shall be constructed on the basis of costs of production and sale reflecting undistorted prices or benchmarks. For this purpose, the sources that may be used include undistorted international prices, costs, or benchmarks, or corresponding costs of production and sale in an appropriate representative country with a similar level of economic development as the exporting country, provided the relevant cost data are readily available. The constructed normal value shall include a reasonable amount for administrative, selling and general costs and for profits.

Significant distortions for the product concerned within the meaning of point (a) may be deemed to exist, inter alia, when reported prices or costs, including the costs of raw materials, are not the result of free market forces as they are affected by government intervention. In considering whether or not significant distortions exist regard may be had, inter alia, to the potential impact of the following: the market in question is to a significant extent served by enterprises which operate under the ownership, control or policy supervision or guidance of the authorities of the exporting country; state presence in firms allowing the state to interfere with respect to prices or costs; public policies or measures discriminating in favour of domestic suppliers or otherwise influencing free market forces; and access to finance granted by institutions implementing public policy objectives.

In Article 11(4), the following subparagraph is added:

‘In the case of a transition from a normal value calculated pursuant to the former Articles 2(7)(a) or 2(7)(b) to a normal value calculated pursuant to paragraphs 1 to 6a of Article 2, any review pursuant to this paragraph shall be deferred to the date on which the first expiry review following such transition is initiated.’

On November 7, 2016, in the attached fact sheet, factsheet-multiple-ctl-plate-ad-prelim-11082016, Commerce announced its affirmative preliminary determinations in the antidumping duty investigations of imports of certain carbon and alloy steel cut-to-length plate from Austria, Belgium, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan.

For Austria, the antidumping rate is 41.97%. For Belgium, the antidumping rate ranges from 2.41 to 8.5%. For China, the antidumping rate is 68.27%. For France, the antidumping rate ranges from 4.26 to 12.97%. For Germany, the antidumping rate ranges from 0 to 6.56%. For Italy, the antidumping rate ranges from 6.10 to 130.63%. For Japan, the antidumping rate ranges from 14.96 to 48.64%. For Korea the antidumping rate is 6.82%. For Taiwan, the antidumping rate ranges from 3.51 to 28%.

On October 24, 2016, Commerce in the attached fact sheet, pipe, announced its affirmative final determinations in the antidumping duty (AD) investigations of imports of circular welded carbon- quality steel pipe from Oman, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam, and countervailing duty (CVD) investigation of imports of circular welded carbon-quality steel pipe from Pakistan.

For Oman, the antidumping rate is 7.24%. For Pakistan, the antidumping rate is 11.08% and the countervailing duty rate is 64.81%. For United Arab Emirates the antidumping rates range from 5.58% to 6.43%. For Vietnam the antidumping rate ranges from 0 to 113%

FOREIGN ANTIDUMPING AND COUNTERVAILING DUTY LAW AND CASES

UNIVERSAL TRADE WAR CONTINUES

With the election of Donald Trump, as stated in my last newsletter, the Universal Trade War will continue. In addition to the US bringing antidumping and countervailing duty cases, countries around the World, such as EC, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, India, Turkey, Ukraine, Russia, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Australia Thailand, South Africa, and Vietnam, all are filing antidumping and countervailing duty cases against each other and the United States. These countries have adopted the US law which finds dumping in 90% of the cases. The US and the EC have created a Frankenstein in the antidumping law and the whole World has adopted it.

Compromise is the best way to settle trade disputes, but it is very difficult, if not impossible, to settle US antidumping and other trade cases. What is “fair” trade for the United States is “fair” trade for every other country. Many countries want to make their industries Great again.

Because of this situation, this part of the newsletter will concentrate on antidumping and countervailing duty cases in other countries.

CHINA

Set forth below are two articles by Chinese trade lawyers on how to respond in Chinese trade cases against the United States and other countries.

ROLAND ZHU, ALLBRIGHT LAW FIRM

A General Description of Anti-Dumping Regulation

of the People’s Republic of China

by Roland Zhu, Allbright Law Firm

In order to maintain foreign trade order and fair competition, China’s Ministry of Commerce (hereinafter referred to as “MOFCOM”) is responsible for conducting anti-dumping investigations against foreign exporters in case that imported products enter the market of the People’s Republic of China by way of dumping, and cause material damage or constitute a threat of material damage to an already established domestic industry, or cause a material impediment to the establishment of a domestic industry in accordance with the Foreign Trade Law of the People’s Republic of China, Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Anti-Dumping and Interim Rules on Placing Cases on File for Antidumping Investigations, which are effective and applicable law.

Where there exists dumping or may exist dumping, an anti-dumping investigation may arise. A complete set of anti-dumping investigation procedure usually follows these steps:

MOFCOM may place a case on file for antidumping investigations upon the application of an applicant; it may also place a case on file on its own initiative for anti-dumping investigations.

MOFCOM shall, within 60 days as of its receipt of the application letter and the relevant evidence submitted by the applicant, examine whether the application is filed by the domestic industry or filed by representing the domestic industry, the contents of the application letter and the evidence attached to it, etc., and shall decide to initiate an investigation or not. Prior to the decision to initiate an investigation, the government of the exporting country (region) concerned shall be notified.

MOFCOM shall publish the decision to initiate an investigation and notify the applicant, the known exporters and importers, the government of the exporting country (region) and other interested organizations and parties (hereinafter collectively referred to as “the interested parties”). As soon as the decision to initiate an investigation is published, MOFCOM shall provide the full text of the written application to the known exporters and the government of the exporting country (region).

MOFCOM may conduct an investigation and collect information from the interested parties by, among other methods, sending questionnaires, using samples, holding public hearings and making on-the-spot verification.

MOFCOM shall, on the basis of its findings, make a preliminary determination on dumping and injury, as well as on whether there exists a causal link between dumping and injury. The preliminary determination shall be published by MOFCOM.

In cases where a preliminary determination on dumping, injury and the causal link between the two is affirmative, MOFCOM shall conduct further investigations on dumping, the dumping margin, the injury and its degree, and, make a final determination on the basis of its findings. The final determination shall be published by MOFCOM. Before the final determination is made, MOFCOM shall inform all known interested parties of the essential facts on which the final determination is based.

An anti-dumping investigation shall be concluded within 12 months from the date of publication of the decision to initiate the investigation, and the period may be extended in special circumstances, but in no case shall the extension be more than 6 months.

The anti-dumping measures taken by MOFCOM shall include provisional anti-dumping measures, price undertakings and anti-dumping duties. The period for applying the provisional anti-dumping measures shall not exceed four months from the effective date set forth in the public notice regarding the decision on provisional anti-dumping measures, and, in special circumstances, may be extended to nine months. The period for the levy of an anti-dumping duty and fulfillment of a price undertaking shall not exceed five years, and may be extended if, as a result of the review, it is determined that the termination of the anti-dumping duty would possibly lead to continuation or recurrence of dumping and injury.

The review proceedings shall be conducted with reference to the relevant provisions of Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Anti-Dumping. Any review shall be concluded within 12 months from the date of the decision of initiation of such a review.

Answers to General Questions about Chinese Antidumping cases are listed below or you may refer to the general description of Chinese anti-dumping regulations.

Information on recent cases filed in China against other countries

Answer: Please see the table below, which summarizes recent cases filed in China during the year of 2016 against other countries are:

What agency makes the AD and CVD decision? What agency makes the injury determination? How long does the initial investigation take? Are there mandatory companies?

Answer: The Trade Remedy and Investigation Bureau of the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China (the “Bureau”) makes the AD and CVD decisions as well as the injury determinations. An anti-dumping or countervailing investigation shall be concluded within 12 months from the date of publication of the decision to initiate the investigation, and the period may be extended in special circumstances, but in no case shall the extension be more than 6 months. There are mandatory companies in China’s AD investigation. The applicant, the known exporters and importers, the government of the exporting country (region) and other interested organizations and parties can register to the Bureau in order to participate in this anti-dumping investigation within 20 days from the date of promulgation of the initial announcement. The Bureau selects the respondents among those who have submitted dumping sampling questionnaire by using sampling survey. For other interested parties, including those are not chosen to answer the investigation questionnaire and those don’t register to the Bureau, the Bureau may make determinations on the basis of the facts already known and the best information available.

Is the Chinese antidumping and countervailing duty law prospective or retrospective, retroactive liability? Is there a public interest test? Are there annual reviews? How long do the orders stay in place?

Answer: For retrospective issues you mentioned above, according to the Article 93 of Legislation Law of the People’s Republic of China, Chinese antidumping and countervailing duty law shall not be retroactive, but the regulations formulated specially for the purpose of better protecting the rights and interests of citizens, legal persons and other organizations are excepted. The period for the levy of an anti-dumping duty shall not exceed 5 years, and may be extended as appropriate if, as a result of the review, it is determined that the termination of the anti-dumping duty would possibly lead to continuation or recurrence of dumping and injury. A midterm review may be conducted upon request by the interested parties and on the basis of examination of the relevant evidence submitted by the interested parties.

When calculating the Normal Value, the following methods are chosen by MOFCOM:

Domestic Sales Price

Constructed Value=Production Cost + S G & A + Reasonable Profit

Export Price to a Third Country (Region)

In terms of category of AD Duty, China’s normal practice is to assign antidumping rates to producers, not trading companies. And there are 3 different types of rates for the enterprises to bear:

Individual Rate

Weighted Average Rate

Country-wide Rate (Best Information Available, BIA)

When it comes to Injury Analysis, several factors shall be considered by MOFCOM: Imported Volume, Imported Price and other factors such as actual and potential decline of domestic industry in sales, profits, output, market share, productivity, return on investment or utilization of capacity, etc., factors affecting domestic prices; the magnitude of the margin of dumping, the actual or potential negative effects of the dumped imports on the domestic industry’s cash flow, inventories, employment, wages, growth, ability of capital raising or investment, etc.

Cumulative Assessment means that the margin of dumping established in relation to the dumped imports from each country (region) is no less than 2 percent, and the volume of such imports from each country (region) is not negligible. It is negligible if the volume of the dumped imports from a particular country (region) is found to account for less than 3 percent of the total imports of the like products, unless countries (regions) which individually account for less than 3 percent of the total imports of the like products collectively account for more than 7 percent of the total imports of the like products.

AD Investigating Procedures

In China, the AD Investigating Authority is MOFCOM Trade Remedy and Investigation Bureau who is not only in charge of determination of dumping margin but also in charge of determination of injury and causation. 

Following procedures in a Chinese AD Investigation Case: Filing of the Petition are:

Within 10 working days after the deadline of filing the responding registration, the investigating authority will issue questionnaires to the registered companies. If the registered companies are numerous, the investigating authority will use sampling (usually 2 mandatory companies for each country/area).

It is important to note that foreign producers/foreign exporters must submit their responding registration documents to the investigating authority within 20 days as of the date of initiation through a PRC practicing attorney or by themselves. If they fail to do so, foreign producers will be treated as non-cooperative and MOFCOM will use the best information available (“BIA”) to make determination.

For the respondents, when submitting Questionnaire Response, they need to keep in mind that the questionnaire response must be submitted to the investigating authority within 37 days as of the date of the issuance of the questionnaires. The responding companies may apply for extension and the investigating authorities usually only give an extension of 7 days. And the questionnaire responses must be submitted through a PRC practicing attorney. After receiving the questionnaire responses, the investigating authority will review them and issue the supplementary questionnaires if certain questions require clarification or explanation further.

In an Interim Review, an application for interim review shall be filed within 30 days as of the expiration date of each year after the effective date of AD measures. The producers applying for interim reviews must have exported the subject merchandise to China within a period of 12 months prior to the application, and the export referred must have been made in sufficient quantities.

Key Points of AD Defense Strategies

Establishing an overall responding strategy before submitting the questionnaire responses to MOFCOM;

On October 26, 2016, the Wall Street Journal in an article entitled “Homeland Security Probes U.S. Aluminum Firms Over Chinese Imports” reported that Federal investigators had launched an investigation into whether Liu Zhongtian, a Chinese billionaire and the founder and chairman of aluminum giant China Zhongwang Holdings Ltd., was engaged in transshipment of aluminum extrusions to the United States in violation of US civil and criminal laws.

Commerce is investigating whether a New Jersey company, Aluminum Shapes LLC, imported pallets to remelt as a way to avoid a countervailing duty rate of 374%, part of a broader probe into Mr. Liu’s activities. The Commerce Department said preliminary findings would be released in coming weeks. Aluminum Shapes last month denied that the pallets were used as raw material for its plant.

Homeland Security is also investigating whether nearly one million tons of aluminum shipped to Aluminicaste Fundición de México, a factory once owned by Mr. Liu’s son, were part of an effort to evade U.S. tariffs by routing the metal through another country to disguise its origins.

SECTION 337 AND IP CASES

NEW 337 CASES

OPTICAL FIBERS

On October 31, 2016, DSM Deso Tech, Inc. and DSM IP Assets B.V. filed a 337 patent case against UV Curable Coatings for Optical Fibers, Coated Optical Fibers, and Products from China. The relevant parts of the ITC notice along with the names of the Chinese respondent companies are below.

On October 27, 2016, Celanese filed a 337 patent case against High Potency Sweeteners, ACE-K, from China. The relevant parts of the ITC notice along with the names of the Chinese respondent companies are below.

On October 14, 2016, Qualcomm filed a 337 patent case against Mobile Electronic Devices from China. The relevant parts of the ITC notice along with the names of the Chinese respondent companies are below.

If you have any questions about these cases or about Trump and Trade, US trade policy, TPP, the antidumping or countervailing duty law, trade adjustment assistance, customs, False Claims Act or 337 IP/patent law in general, please feel free to contact me.

About

Prior to entering private practice, from October 1980 to May 1987, Mr. Perry was an attorney with the Office of General Counsel, U.S. International Trade Commission ("ITC"), and Office of Chief Counsel and Office of Antidumping Investigations, U.S. Department of Commerce.

Since 1991, Mr. Perry has won more than 50 antidumping and countervailing duty cases for Chinese producers/exporters and US importers..

For more than twenty years, Mr. Perry has been involved in trade litigation between the United States and China and has seen the impact of the Trade War up close.

In his spare time, Mr. Perry is a stock photographer and his photos are on this website.